International Multi-Unit Leadership

Business & Money

Edger, Chris

Management & Leadership

Routledge

Effective Multi-Unit Leadership: Local Leadership in Multi-Site Situations

There is a growing recognition of the increasing importance of ’local leadership’ practice within multi-unit service contexts, given the threat to costly land-based retail infrastructures from smart technologies. Multi-site organizations are economically significant, but currently under-researched and poorly understood. In Effective Multi-Unit Leadership, Chris Edger looks at that key managerial cohort in the retail, hospitality and service sectors operating between the centre and unit - the Multi-Unit Leader (MUL). This district, area or regional manager, is tasked with maximising revenue and profit from a complex and ambiguous positional space, being sandwiched between the centre and unit, facing the MUL paradox: how do they motivate unit managers and team members to provide great service whilst simultaneously fulfilling the Centre's compliance agenda? Based on extensive case study research across a range of multi-unit service organisations, Edger advances an Integrated Model of MUL that elucidates how key activities (sales-led service, systems and standards - 3Ss) are driven through behavioural practices (commitment, control and change - 3Cs) underpinned by MUL personal characteristics (expertise, emotional intelligence and energy - 3Es). Central to this model is the notion of ’portfolio optimisation through social exchange’ (POSE) where MULs apply ’local leadership’, leveraging their portfolios through the deft application of exchange-based currencies. Replete with case studies, Effective Multi-Unit Leadership will appeal to high potential unit managers; existing multi-unit leaders who want to improve their performance levels; and retail/service directors wishing to train and coach their direct reports; as well as business educators and those with an academic interest in organisational studies.

<p>There is a growing recognition of the increasing importance of ’local leadership’ practice within multi-unit service contexts, given the threat to costly land-based retail infrastructures from smart technologies. Multi-site organizations are economically significant, but currently under-researched and poorly understood. In Effective Multi-Unit Leadership, Chris Edger looks at that key managerial cohort in the retail, hospitality and service sectors operating between the centre and unit - the Multi-Unit Leader (MUL). This district, area or regional manager, is tasked with maximising revenue and profit from a complex and ambiguous positional space, being sandwiched between the centre and unit, facing the MUL paradox: how do they motivate unit managers and team members to provide great service whilst simultaneously fulfilling the Centre's compliance agenda? Based on extensive case study research across a range of multi-unit service organisations, Edger advances an Integrated Model of MUL that elucidates how key activities (sales-led service, systems and standards - 3Ss) are driven through behavioural practices (commitment, control and change - 3Cs) underpinned by MUL personal characteristics (expertise, emotional intelligence and energy - 3Es). Central to this model is the notion of ’portfolio optimisation through social exchange’ (POSE) where MULs apply ’local leadership’, leveraging their portfolios through the deft application of exchange-based currencies. Replete with case studies, Effective Multi-Unit Leadership will appeal to high potential unit managers; existing multi-unit leaders who want to improve their performance levels; and retail/service directors wishing to train and coach their direct reports; as well as business educators and those with an academic interest in organisational studies.</p>

<p>In International Multi-Unit Leadership, Chris Edger builds on his earlier Effective Multi-Unit Leadership. First - showcasing up-to-date, contemporaneous case studies of market-leading international organisations - the book takes a cross-border perspective on leading from the middle in international subsidiaries that are committing significant capital to land-based multi-unit infrastructures. Secondly, it captures the zeitgeist of internationalizing hospitality, retail, service and leisure organizations facing challenges in relation to multi-channel/smart technology spread, divergent national cultures and emergent, imitative local competition. Thirdly, it addresses the conundrum that most subsidiary multi-unit leaders (regional, area and district managers) face, generating commitment amongst their unit managers and team members, whilst coping with their firm’s country of origin-based control and change agendas. Continuing the themes that emerged in his earlier book, particularly around how multi-unit leaders (MULs) and directors are expected to expedite a number of competing and contradictory functions, the author finds that in subsidiary-based international situations, complexity and ambiguity escalates due to 'distance decay' and the level of internal and external contextual turbulence. Based on exemplary case studies, the author examines how high-performance MULs manage paradox and ambiguity within an international context and how organizations can deliver local effectiveness within a strategic framework determined by a policy-making centre hundreds or thousands of miles away. The research and case studies in this book will appeal to managers within international multi-unit enterprises, service directors wishing to train and coach others, students on any of the increasing number of multi-unit management programmes being run in business schools, and academics with an interest in internationalizing service-based enterprises.</p>

International Multi-Unit Leadership: Developing Local Leaders in International Multi-Site Operations

Multi-site service organizations are economically significant, but under-researched and poorly understood.Chris Edger looks at that key managerial cohort in the retail, hospitality and service sectors operating between the centre and unit - the Multi-Unit Leader (MUL). This district, area or regional manager, is tasked with maximising revenue and profit from a complex and ambiguous positional space. Sandwiched between the centre and the unit they need to motivate unit managers and team members to provide great service whilst simultaneously fulfilling the Centre's compliance agenda.Based on extensive case study research across multi-unit service organisations in developed economies this first book is an essential guide to the 'art and science' of Effective Multi-Unit Leadership. Edger provides an Integrated Model of MUL that explains how key activities (sales-led service, systems and standards) are driven through behavioural practices (commitment, control and change) underpinned by MUL personal characteristics (expertise, emotional intelligence and energy). Central to this is 'portfolio optimisation through social exchange' (POSE) where MULs apply 'local leadership', leveraging their portfolios through the deft application of exchange-based currencies.The second book, International Multi-Unit Leadership, takes a broader cross-border perspective on 'leading from the middle' in international subsidiaries that are committing significant capital to land-based infrastructures in emerging markets. It captures the zeitgeist of internationalizing hospitality, retail, service and leisure organizations facing enormous challenges in relation to multi-channel/smart technology spread, divergent national cultures and emergent, imitative local competition, and addresses how to generate commitment amongst unit managers and team members, whilst coping with their firm's country of origin-based control agendas.

Effective Multi-Unit Leadership and International Multi-Unit Leadership: 2-Volume Set: 2-volume set

Professional Area Management, 2nd ed.

Business Culture

Redshank Books

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Books by Edger, Chris

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Edger, Chris. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

International Multi-Unit Leadership

Effective Multi-Unit Leadership: Local Leadership in Multi-Site Situations

Effective Multi-Unit Leadership: Local Leadership in Multi-Site Situations

International Multi-Unit Leadership: Developing Local Leaders in International Multi-Site Operations

Effective Multi-Unit Leadership and International Multi-Unit Leadership: 2-Volume Set: 2-volume set

Professional Area Management, 2nd ed.